Biography
Ashley Wennerstrom, PhD, MPH, is an Associate Professor at LSU School of Public Health and LSU School of Medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana. She directs the Center for Healthcare Value and Equity, which provides technical assistance and evaluation services to Louisiana Medicaid. She also directs the Louisiana Community Health Worker Institute and serves as co-director of the MD-MPH program. She teaches public health program planning and mentors numerous health professional students.
Ashley has been a proud ally of the community health worker workforce for over 15 years. She has partnered with community health workers both in Louisiana and nationally to support workforce development and policy that centers the voices of community health workers. Ashley is a co-founder of the Louisiana Community Health Outreach Network (LACHON), which serves as Louisiana’s professional association for community health workers. She currently co-leads the Louisiana Community Health Workforce Coalition and has been named to co-lead the Louisiana Community Health Worker Workforce Board. She is a founding board member of the National Association of Community Health Workers and co-chaired the organization’s policy committee for five years.
Ashley is a passionate advocate for equitable community participation in research and evaluation and has conducted numerous studies with community co-leadership on topics of relevance to her community, including post-disaster mental health, post-incarceration health, intimate partner violence, and best practices in community health worker leadership development. She is the lead evaluator for the Envision Equity Community Health Worker Training and Technical Assistance Center. Ashley recently completed a Robert Wood Johnson Interdisciplinary Research Leaders fellowship focused on the health effects of incarceration. Her work has also been funded by CDC, NIH, HRSA and PCORI.
Finally, Ashley has been heavily involved with APHA for over 15 years. Within the CHPPD Section she has held numerous leadership roles including Chair of the Student Committee, Treasurer, Section Councilor, Governing Councilor, Chair-Elect, Chair, and Immediate Past Chair. She recently served as a member of the ISC Steering Committee. Ashley has also been an active member of the CHW Section since 2011. For roughly five years she led the CHW section’s policy committee and was a lead author and champion for the 2014 policy “Support for Community Health Worker Leadership in Determining Workforce Standards for Training and Credentialing.”
Candidate Statement
It is an honor to be considered for APHA’s Executive Board. After nearly 20 years of public health work at the local, state, and national level, and 15 years of involvement with APHA, I am excited to contribute my time, passion, and expertise to ensure that our association fiercely and successfully advocates for health equity and justice. My work reflects many of the association’s ongoing and current priorities, including building workforce capacity and addressing systemic racism as a public health issue.
In almost two decades of professional collaboration with community health workers (CHWs) and staff at community-based organizations (CBOs), I have learned that they are pillars of the public health system. They are often the first professionals to respond to public health threats, yet the last to have access to the latest science and to opportunities to participate in policy development and decision-making processes. CHWs and CBO staff have invaluable expertise to share, but excessive costs often preclude their participation in professional associations such as APHA. As an Executive Board member, I will aim to increase membership of CHWs and CBO staff by advocating for reduced membership dues for these public health professionals.
I am also running for Executive Board because slavery persists in the United States, where hundreds of thousands of incarcerated people work for pennies an hour each day. I have an incarcerated loved one and I have cared for two friends who died shortly after their release from decades of wrongful incarceration. The injustices and systemic racism in our criminal legal system impact not only the six million people who remain behind bars, on probation, or on parole, but also their communities. As an Executive Board member, I will participate in APHA’s committee on social responsibility, and ensure that our association opposes prison labor in all forms.